Accelerated Learning Laboratory is a tuition-free publicly funded kindergarten to grade 12 charter school in Pima County, Arizona.
Accelerated Learning Laboratory has one campus, located near the base of Wasson Peak in the foothills of the Tucson Mountains.
In 2013, The Washington Post ranked the school the sixth most challenging high school in the United States.
School characteristics
The school believes students can perform at gifted levels if exposed to the right educational practices and curriculum, regardless of ethnicity, income or gender. Students are grouped by social and academic characteristics, instead of by grade, because the school does not believe students mature at a homogenous pace. Students also address teachers by their first names. The school expects on-time behavior, zero profanity, near-perfect attendance, and homework five nights a week. Parents are expected to get out of their cars and walk into the building at the end of the day, to demonstrate the importance of education.
The school's graduation rate is 100 percent, and 100 percent of its students attend a 4-year college. In 2008, an eighth-grade student at the school was the only in the state recognized as an Advanced Placement Scholar.
Curriculum
Incoming students take a test before enrolling, which places them in correct classes based upon their knowledge of each subject. Students at Accelerated Learning Laboratory focus intensely on the Advanced Placement, SAT, and American College Testing so they can be accepted into their selected college/university. Students can enroll in any math subject, from multiplication and division to AP Statistics, and if they then pass the Advanced Placement test of each math subject they can continue in classes about vector calculus, ordinary differential equations, and mathematical analysis. Most students start in pre-algebra in as early as the first grade, and continue to advance in any subject, not just math, throughout their whole stay at Accelerated Learning Laboratory. The school offers AP Physics, AP Chemistry, AP Biology, AP English, AP US History, AP US Government, and offers language classes in Mandarin-Chinese, Turkish, Italian, and Spanish.
Extra-curricular activities
While there are no organized competitive athletic programs, the school offers ultimate frisbee, soccer, and swimming for physical education. Accelerated Learning has two large fields for recreational purposes, a basketball court, and an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
Accelerated Learning Laboratory's school mascot is the lab rat, and the school colors are black and red.
References
External links
- School website
